
CyberWire Daily Telegram for the throne. [Research Saturday]
Feb 21, 2026
Tomer Bar, VP of Security Research at SafeBreach Labs and lead author of the 'Prince of Persia' report, walks through a decade of Iranian-linked APT activity. He highlights new Foudre and Tonnerre malware variants. He discusses evolving C2 over time, Telegram-based command-and-control, expanded campaign scale, and tactics like fake installers and supply-chain lures.
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Persistent Iran-Linked Surveillance Campaign
- Prince of Persia targets surveillance of Iranian dissidents and opposition to gather intelligence over long periods.
- The group adapts continuously, resurfacing with improved tooling after takedowns.
C2 Evolution Thwarts Takedowns
- The group evolved from fixed C2s to domain generation algorithms and C2 verification to resist takedowns.
- These defenses let the malware refuse impostor servers unless cryptographic checks succeed.
Staged Recon Then Full Surveillance
- Attack chains use staged malware: reconnaissance (Foudre) then full surveillance (Tonnerre) when victims prove valuable.
- Foudre gathers system info and keylogs to decide whether to pull the heavy Tonnerre implant.
